Varieties of Understanding multi-disciplinary project concludes

Under the Varieties of Understanding project, 10 books and 52 journal articles were published.
Under the Varieties of Understanding project, 10 books and 52 journal articles were published. | Contributed image
Fordham University's Varieties of Understanding project concluded with a capstone conference on June 24.

This project, which focused on human understanding and the study of how it is developed, consisted of multidisciplinary research in psychology, philosophy and theology.
  
Fordham associate professor of philosophy Stephen Grimm helped the project to be funded by a $3.56 million grant from the John Templeton Foundation.
  
“We have helped found a new field of inquiry, the study of understanding,” Grimm said. “This vibrant new field has led to more inquiry, more discussions, more debates, all of which are helping to increase our understanding of understanding itself.”

Under the Varieties of Understanding project, 10 books and 52 journal articles were published in various publications. Forty additional articles presented were in the peer review stage.
  
During the three-day conference, several researchers associated with the project spoke, including Rutger philosophy professor Ernest Sosa and Yale professor of psychology and linguistics Frank Keil.

Novelist and essayist Marilynne Robinson also spoke on the nature of language and writing.

“We know language is alive, because it can be lifeless. It dies in captivity,” she said.